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2016 Digital Hiring Predictions

Looking to get ahead of the competition? Wondering what your digital hiring strategy should look like in 2016? We asked our consultants for their 2016 digital hiring predictions and what they saw in the market as major trends that will affect the industry. Digital Marketing Predictions 2016 will be the year of customer-centric marketing. New algorithms will have a strong influence on SEO, organic website ranking, and therefore the way content is planned. Marketers will need to think about WHY customers are searching for something instead of WHAT they are searching for. The impact on content marketing will be huge.

Top Digital Skills. In terms of digital marketing skills, companies are looking for candidates skilled in digital production, content production, paid search, and digital campaign management. The quality of content will be prioritised over quantity.

Skill shortage. As organisations continue to shift their marketing budgets online, we will see an increasing demand for digital marketing professionals in 2016. We expect the skill shortage to continue in 2016, if not worsen.

Flexibility. Digital marketing professionals will be looking to work for agile and innovative businesses with flexible working conditions and, crucially, opportunities for training and development as digital marketing trends are rapidly advancing and regular up-skilling will be essential. Businesses with great cultures will flourish, which means flexible working conditions with training and development opportunities. We see innovative and agile businesses being the most competitive in terms of securing and retaining talent.

Digital & Technical Developments Major observers agree that 2016 will see the rise of the age of the customer. The success of the likes of Uber, Transferwise, and Airbnb indicate that consumers need to be the focus of product design and put in direct contact with the service provider. Consumers expect a seamless user experience on a convenient and secure device.

Developers. Front-end development will be the core hiring priority in 2016, but there will be a shortage of developers with the right skill sets. We anticipate highly skilled developers’ rates to increase by 15-20%.

New Job Titles. Last year it was Growth Hackers, this year we’re beginning to hear about Cyber Security Data Scientists. These roles have existed separately in the past, but are coming together now with the rise of cyber terrorist threats, regulations, and the role of Big Data in transforming security. In 2016, job titles that we don’t even know about yet will come into play.

Read our hiring predictions in Communications & PR, Branding and in Healthcare. Need help? If you need staff from a Developer to CTO, don’t hesitate to contact us for a confidential discussion. Our consultants are specialist, industry- savvy professionals who know their fields inside-out. We can help you identify what and who you need, and we have the contacts to source the best-fitting candidates.

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Marie-Laure has +20 years of experience in digital and PR communications. Her corporate expertise and her branding experience gives to LEWIS France the power to develop above-the-weight campaigns for the B2C and B2B clients of the agency. She worked for some of the most innovative companies of today’s world such as Prêt-à-Manger, Subway, Huawei, Wiko, Hisense, Hiscox, Robert Half and Bouygues Telecom.

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Author: Alice Weightman

As Founder and CEO, Alice established Hanson Search in 2002 and has since gained a reputation as one of the leading search professionals in senior appointments across communications, developing an incredible network globally.